BlerkOne

Not on Glory a few weeks ago, but I guess they are coming back. Anyway, you can pick up fresh glasses (Plastics?) on Lido and have a constant supply in your cabin.

That stopped around COVID, unless you have a suite.

Still waiting for a verifiable reference to any cruise line.

This is also shown on the AU website Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses are subject to change and Carnival reserves the right to collect any increases in effect at the time of sailing even if the fare has already been paid in full.

Guessing too high puts them at a competitive disadvantage compared with a cruise line that cuts it closer. Right now Carnival refunds port charges and fees for missed ports. Royal only does so if they collected too much to begin with and have a surplus. I can see Carnival moving to something similar and perhaps not refunding anything. At the end of the day, I see this costing the consumer more money.

That is exactly what they are doing when they quote a price for port taxes and fees. They are predicting how many cruisers they will have.

But the numbers can change. If you reprice a cruise, the port taxes and fees often change and not always lower. That would be a violation as I read it.

But does it really? The "optional" costs vary greatly - drink packages or individual drinks, shore excursions, specialty dining, bingo, gratuities, etc., etc. You still won't see the total cost of your vacation.

Length of cruise or cabin category have nothing to do with port taxes.

I don't see a single cruise line referenced in that report, much less for that statistic.

Pretty much guaranteed.

Anecdotal at best.

I suspect it could fall under the taxes part of the law and they can do as they please. As in match the competition. I wouldn't be surprised if Carnival adds additional "optional" fees which are exempt - e.g. you want to change cabins, a price reduction, we are going to charge a fee for this, a fee for that. As Carnival doesn't release numbers like that, it falls under the 150% of statistics are made up.

Will be interesting, because all Carnival can do is estimate the port taxes and fees. They can't control them. Or any possible fuel surcharges in the future. It seems like much ado about nothing for cruises. Only first time cruisers night not know about port taxes etc.

except for embarkation day...

You can cancel for any reason. The normal cancellation penalties would apply and the insurance would reimburse for those. The rest Princess would refund to the the source of payments. If you used gift cards, they would put the money back on the gift cards. Your only loss would be the cost of the insurance.

I have not taken the tour, but YouTube has at least a couple of videos on what must be the same tour.

If having an open mind makes me a cheerleader, guilty

Too easy.

Thank you. Pictures certainly clear some things up. Looks good to me

I didn't notice any chaos in the pictures. Or lines. I think likely there is a learning curve on something that just started. There certainly seems to be resentment by some on the change, perhaps coupled with the propulsion issues. The Lido location is the same as what the steakhouse had, common kitchen and all Personally, I like the looks of the menu and am looking forward to trying.

Sharing a kitchen makes sense, don't ya think? But that is much different than sharing a buffet line.

I doubt the sides and salads are at the same buffet the common people use.

no problem checking in at 11pm my time.

I think it is possible. Installing Starlink doesn't upgrade the rest of the ship infrastructure - number of access points, etc. I have found speeds can vary greatly moving around a ship.